(Ee-no-hoy- wine carrier)

  The picture shows an Amazon on a horse fighting some Greek warriors.  The Amazon in this specific vase is Hippolyta.  She is riding her horse and attacking with her spear the famous Athenian hero Theseus, who encountered her during his trip with the rest of the Argonauts.

  The Amazon is indicated by the striped Phrygian outfit that she wears. Theseus is wearing a Corinthian style helmet with a crest. Next to him stands an unidentified warrior in an Athenian style helmet. This a detail from a broken piece of pottery that can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.

  Although the black figure style of vase painting originated in Corinth, it was the rise to power of the city-state of Athens and its subsequent export of pottery throughout the Mediterranean that brought the Athenian black figure vase painting style to the forefront in the 5th Century. The vases were first completed in the well-known yellow-orange color by mixing red ochre with the clay.  The figures and scene were then painted on the vase in black in a silhouette format.  The artist could then engrave or incise lines of clothing, faces, and other details on the black figures, allowing the ochre color to show through.  Often times another color such as white or red, or sometimes purple, was added to a few objects on the vase.